The Red Angel
' |image= |series= |production= |producer(s)= |story= |script=Chris Silvestri and Anthony Maranville |director=Hanelle Culpepper |imdbref=tt8282872 |guests= Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou, Jayne Brook as Katrina Cornwell, Ethan Peck as Spock, Alan van Sprang as Leland, Sonja Sohn as Gabrielle Burnham/Red Angel, Rachael Ancheril as Nhan, Hannah Cheesman as Lt. Cmdr. Airiam, Emily Coutts as Lt. Keyla Detmer, Patrick Kwok-Choon as Lt. Gen Rhys, Oyin Oladejo as Lt. Joann Owosekun, Ronnie Rowe Jr. as Lt. R.A. Bryce, Sara Mitich as Lt. Nilsson and Jason Anthony as Control Computer. |previous_production=Project Daedalus |next_production=Perpetual Infinity |episode=DSC S02E010 |airdate=21 March 2019 |previous_release=Project Daedalus |next_release=Perpetual Infinity |story_date(s)=Unknowm |previous_story=Project Daedalus |next_story=Perpetual Infinity }} Summary After destroying Control, the crew assembles for Airiam's memorial service. Tilly investigates the bioneural signature of the Red Angel from Airiam's files and comes to the conclusion that it's Michael Burnham. Since every appearance of the Red Angel opens a micro wormhole that also allows the future AI to infect someone or something in the present, as it happened with Airiam, the crew decides to set up a trap. Captain Leland has to admit that Section 31 is responsible for the creation of the time travel suit in the Project Daedalus 20 years ago. At that time the Federation was in a temporal arms race with the Klingons. Leland also tells Burnham that her parents were working on the project, and that the suit contained a time crystal stolen from a Klingon black market, which was the reason for them to raid the outpost and kill her parents. Spock discovers a pattern of the appearances of the Red Angel, which happen whenever Burnham is in danger. The future Burnham has to save her because of the grandfather paradox. So Michael Burnham agrees to be exposed to the deadly atmosphere of Essof IV, the former test site for Project Daedalus, as a bait for the Red Angel. The planet is rich on deuterium, which is used to power the necessary stasis field. As she is about to suffocate, Pike orders to stop it, but Spock raises his phaser and insists on carrying on. The Red Angel eventually appears to resuscitate Burnham, and can be confined in a coordinated effort of the equipment installed on the outpost on Essof IV, and the Section 31 ship from where the collapse of the wormhole is initiated. When Michael regains consciousness again, she recognizes that the Red Angel is not herself, but her mother! Errors and Explanations Incorrectly regarded as goofs # When Burnham is in the process of an experiment to capture the Red Angel, Pike orders Owosekun to beam her to Sickbay. Site-to-site transportation technology was assumed not to exist in the Pre-Next Generation Timeline, key word, "assumed". We find out in "Such Sweet Sorrow pt. II" that Discovery had basically been wiped out of the history books, including all of her advanced technology and any tech that had come from Section 31. Nitpicking # How could Spock know of Burnham punching and probably breaking Leland's nose? Burnham didn't tell him about it because why would she say she hit Leland's nose without mentioning the reason? Leland himself definitely wouldn't run around with his bloodied nose, saying it was Burnham. Even on explicit request, he would definitely remain silent about who is to blame and why. So the only explanation is that Spock (accidentally?) witnessed how Burnham left Leland's quarters in rage, which should have been shown in the episode. The ship could have systems designed to keep track of the crew, which showed Burnham and Leland in close proximity when his nose was broken. Movie Mistakes Plot holes # Jon Sandys Premium member Michael uses herself as bait to trap her future self, putting her own life in jeopardy with the reasoning that her future self will come back to save her. All well and good, except they have a backup plan with the doctor to resuscitate her if needed, meaning her life isn't really at risk, or nowhere near as much as might be implied. And her future self would undoubtedly know that, having lived through it in the past, so not swoop in to save her. Or even if she did come, would also know it was a trap. Seniram Burnham’s future self would have to come back, knowing it was a trap, rather than run the risk of her being wiped from existence, due to alterations to the timeline resulting from the death of her younger self. TV Tropes Headscratchers # It's kinda unclear why they want to trap the Red Angel to begin with? They all seem to agree that the RA is trying to prevent the Bad Future she showed to Spock in the vision, so what's the point of trapping her instead of, you know, just letting her do what she's attempting to do? From what they know, it was the temporal rift created by the Red Angel over Kaminar that allowed the Future AI to travel back in time. They explicitly state they want to stop her from jumping in time as they believe that will give the Future AI more opportunities, which is why Leland's ship is rushing to close the rift while Discovery is dealing with the Red Angel. Aside from that, Section 31 isn't really composed of the type of people to sit around trusting others. Notes Category:Episodes Category:Discovery